Limelight Restaurant

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  6      Value  8     

Been here a few times. All previous experiences excellent. However, arrived early in the night this time at 6pm, my husband ordered the massaman Lamb and the meat was terrible, tough gristle. Disappointed as this is his favourite meal. Can't complain too much because the price is good value, but they must definitely improve on their meat selection. I had the Pad thai and it was great. We will go back again to see if they can get the lamb right.

Oct 04, 2011 

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

Just had breakfast, sitting in sunny courtyard. Wonderful first experience! Healthy and super tasty honey smoked salmon with avocado on sourdough toast, heavenly! Great service, very reasonable prices and beautiful food, this is sure to be my local favorite from now on. Undiscovered.... Might want to keep it that way.

Sep 03, 2011 

6.3 Average

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  5      Value  6     

Arrived and was seated in what seemed to be the second class area. Whilst the main room was warm and inviting, this add on area had bare concrete floors and the only heating was what wafted in from the main room. I thought this tough as we had booked but we were a bit late so maybe the good table had been given away.

Started with twoi great entrees. Fresh ricepaper rolls containing an unusual mix of veg and fruit with a passionfruit dipping sauce and the second was basically spring roll ingredients served in pastry cups. Both really good.
Then they let themselves down. We ordered three mains - Crying Tiger, Pork Neck and Red Curry Duck with rice. The Duck arrived sans rice. We asked for rice and a fairly stingy portion finally arrived along with the Pork. So we finished all of this and no sign of the Crying Tiger and so sign of any staff to ask.

Basically our area was deserted once the two mains were served. Eventually I went searching for staff and found one behind the bar who informed the kitchen of our missing course. They apologised and promised to rush it out, which they certainly did as it was close to raw. Luckily I prefer my meat towards raw but this was almost too raw for me and my wife would not touch it. So we finished this and left. It was so close to being a great dinner. So if you visit and get directed towards those bare concrete floors consider asking for a different table in the hope of being better looked after.

Aug 10, 2011 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  6      Value  7     

Overview

Limelight is an upmarket Thai restaurant, which, despite its rather out-of the-way location somewhere between Neutral Bay, North Sydney and Kirribilli is obviously popular with the locals.

Access/Parking

There’s limited street parking, but no restrictions in the evening. We were lucky to find a spot virtually outside but then it was a Sunday night.

Ambience/Noise Levels/Lighting

Relaxing and pleasant ambience and we were given an excellent table next to the window. Not that’s there’s much to see outside but still it’s nice to have something to look out of. Noise levels are fine and we were easily able to converse

Decor

Stylish Thai decor with soft furnishings and wooden tables, but the low lighting made it difficult to read the menu.

Crowds/Booking

We dined on a Sunday night and the place was virtually full. So it’s advisable to book ahead.

Comfort

Nice comfy chairs but table was a bit small.

Service

Patchy. When we arrived our table was ready and waiting. The staff were polite and friendly, but we waited a long time between starters and mains. In fact even though we were one of the first to arrive, we were the last table to get served.

Food

This is where this place really excels. Helpings were on the small side but they made up with it with the excellent quality. Everything was fresh, tasty and nicely presented. For starters we had the interestingly titled “passion garden” and “hideaway” ($9.90 each). The “passion garden” is three rice rolls with avo and green apple in a passion fruit juice. Not all that tasty but probably a tad healthier than your average starter. The “hideaway” is three small chicken drumsticks, which were tasty and tender. For mains we had the stir fried chicken with chilli jam and the Massaman lamb. Both dishes were first class using top grade ingredients. The meat, both lamb and chicken were tender and full of flavour. For dessert we had the sticky date pud with ice cream, which was polished off in no time.

Value

Three of us dined and we paid just over $100. That included three drinks, two starters, two mains with rice for three, a double helping of roti bread, a single dessert and a coffee. A touch on the expensive side, especially as the helpings were quite small. I think we’re rapidly discovering that in Syd restaurants at least, quantity is in inverse proportion to price, so the more you pay, the less you get!

Toilets

Clean and well provisioned if a little cramped.

Summary

Overall we had a pleasant evening here but it’s a bit too out of the way and expensive for us to make a return trip.

Aug 09, 2011 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

Great food, presentation, service and overall great atmosphere. Highly recommend.

Jul 10, 2011 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

Beautiful decor and location and a really tasty menu. Huge improvement on the previous restaurant that was there. Great service too. Only suggestions: it would be nice to see one Thai dessert on the the dessert menu like Thai sticky rice and the TV should not be turned on at night ruins the ambience. All in all though a wonderful restaurant.

Apr 03, 2011 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

This restaurant has been through a few changes over the years and is now terrific, really good Thai food at dinner. Had lunch there a few months ago and it was just average but dinner was excellent Thai food with a twist. Maybe they have a different chef in the day? It was very good value and we will definitely be going back.

Mar 25, 2011 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  9     

Four of us visited early on a Sunday evening. We chose the $35 per head banquet. This was great value with delicious and plentiful food, served in a friendly and attentive manner. Overall an outstanding Thai experience.

Feb 21, 2011 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  9     

The food at Limelight could be classified as modern Thai and some of it as fusion with a Thai main theme and it's absolutely brilliant. The best Thai I've eaten in Sydney in many years and I do love to eat Thai and do so regularly. I really don't understand one of the reviewer's comment about it being "run of the mill Thai".

In my experience it's special in quality and also presentation. One occasion I know about, the restaurant did not get their usual high quality supply of ingredient (papaya) from overseas and they took some items off the menu for a few days rather than substitute it with questionable quality substitute. The servings are quite generous.

It's also a "dog friendly" restaurant. I've seen a couple of people with dogs sitting down outside and the dogs were also looked after by restaurant staff (a bowl with fresh water etc).

It can get a bit noisy if you are unlucky with your neighbours at the other tables but the ambience in not bad. Service is polite and attentive but there can be language problems or cultural misunderstandings. Still, you are well looked after.

Oct 01, 2010 

6.3 Average

Food  5      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  6     

We were tempted to try Limelight from the high rating here on Eatability, and expectations were therefore high.

A fair description of the food would be "run-of-the-mill Thai". Disappointing factors were the use of a few obviously tinned ingredients (e.g. sweetcorn), plus the fact that the menu had many dishes blanked out (we assume due to lack of fresh ingredients).

Presentation was ok, and the restaurant was warm and inviting on a chilly evening.

Sep 30, 2010